Chaos Heir

Chapter 1572: Cheat

As soon as the kid-like King vanished completely, an earthquake ran through the lake, spreading through the air above while somehow not disturbing the still waters.

The fabric of space grew brittle before cracking, shattering into countless shards as if it were made of thin glass. The empty black sky and the glowing lake below broke, but nothing actually fell.

Instead, the shattered scenery melted, each piece of that illusion turning into strands of glowing smoke that dispersed into nothingness.

The world around Lord Enforcer twisted, receding to make room for a different scenery. Yet, that sudden, widespread transformation failed to claim his attention since he knew exactly what it meant.

The King’s guess had been correct. Lord Enforcer had truly copied his unique element. However, there was far more to it.

What Lord Enforcer had performed hadn’t been a copy in the strict sense. His ability to summon similar illusions had merely been a consequence of his actual technique.

Lord Enforcer dealt with rules, so he had learned those that governed the King and his element, their functioning, source, and the ways in which he could twist them.

By using the same rules, Lord Enforcer could create an illusion of his own. Still, a simple iteration like that would have only led to a weaker version of what the King had summoned.

That was where the twisting part came into play. The illusion could indeed trick the King for a while, but Lord Enforcer mostly focused on what governed his very opponent. In that specific case, the rules of his body.

The combination of those two allowed Lord Enforcer to create a technique and ensure its success, basically arranging a situation where his victory was the only possible outcome. It was a cheat by every definition of the word, hence why Lord Enforcer hated it.

Of course, there were limits to that ability, and the fact that Lord Enforcer’s element countered the King’s played a significant role. Still, fairness had no place in a war that had the very universe of mana’s survival at stake.

While the fake scenery receded, Lord Enforcer closed his eyes and pushed away the stain of any external rule from his existence. He cleansed himself of his cheat technique, his grin abandoning his face to restore an emotionless, machine-like expression.

By the time Lord Enforcer lost his horns and wings and reopened his eyes, the world had resumed functioning properly. No lake or other illusions were present. Only the same barren edge of the crater expanded in his vision.

Lord Enforcer had returned to reality, and the same went for the kid-like King, albeit his condition had suffered gravely due to breaking the illusion’s conditions.

The kid-like King was in front of Lord Enforcer, but he was on his knees, bleeding injuries littering him all over, turning his robe and skin into a patchworked mess that featured no intact spots.

True Chaos leaked from those injuries, but it was feeble, unable to deal with all the damage the King had suffered. Clearly, failing to overcome the illusion had hurt him beyond his physical shape.

The King’s wings and horns were still there, but they had greatly shrunk, looking as feeble as the rest of the glowing smoke leaking out of him. His life was dwindling, but he didn’t surrender himself to death yet.

Defeating true divinity was no easy task. Theoretically, failing at the illusion should have killed the King on the spot, but his ascension wasn’t something Lord Enforcer could affect with utmost precision.

The price for attempting to affect it also showed itself now. Just like the King, Lord Enforcer’s existence shrank, seemingly exhausted from the previous effort. He had messed with powers beyond his reach, leading to a sudden sense of weakness.

Nevertheless, Lord Enforcer had predicted a similar outcome and steeled himself to finish the job. It didn’t matter what happened to him as long as he completed that fight, so he forced a delay in that sense of weakness, accepting to experience it twice as intensely later.

At the same time, Lord Enforcer thrust his arm forward, reaching for that far smaller figure. He knew how the King’s body worked, so he only needed a short but direct contact to alter it.

Yet, the kid-like King grunted and snapped up, grabbing Lord Enforcer’s large wrist to push his arm away. The alien lost shards of his wounded body in the process, but he didn’t care, either. He was also a loyal soldier with a job to do.

Lord Enforcer saw it as clear as day. Something happened between him and the King. The air twisted once more, wanting to mess with his senses, trying to hide whatever suicidal attack the alien was preparing.

However, a dark figure suddenly crossed Lord Enforcer’s vision, crashing violently somewhere to his left. The abrupt event dispersed the twisting air, quickly revealing the world again, showing a small, severed arm still clinging to his wrist.

As for the kid-like King, only traces of glowing smoke lingered in the spot where he had once been, trying to rebuild his body. Yet, a second violent landing unfolded, replacing what was left of it with a huge dark-red figure.

Lord Enforcer lifted his gaze, only to find Major General Arngan standing in front of him. Actually, his companion now towered over him by almost half a meter, wearing even longer horns and fangs, but bleeding all over.

Truth be told, Major General Arngan looked even worse off than the kid-like King had been. There was virtually no part of his body without deep, bleeding cuts. If it weren’t for his strangely big size, Lord Enforcer would have thought he was on the verge of death.

"Are you in need of healing?" Lord Enforcer asked.

Major General Arngan scoffed, growling, red smoke escaping his long fangs. He glanced at the Thilku, only to wave his clawed hand to finish destroying the small arm still clinging to his wrist.

Meanwhile, from the first crash site, the long-haired King straightened himself up, his wings unfolding while he pointed his fuming knife at the General.

"Don’t interfere, Mister Royal Guard," Major General Arngan said, his low voice making his statement sound like a warning. "I’m finally having the fun I’ve been looking for."